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Rules & Scoring in Tennis

Scoring in tennis

The rules of tennis are controlled by the International Tennis Federation. We’ve outlined some basic scoring in tennis information below, but you can find the full list of rules and scoring on the ITF website.

Scoring in a set

The first player/team to win six games wins that set, provided there is a margin of two games over the opponent(s). If the score reaches six games all, a tie-break game shall be played.

Scoring in a match

A match can be played to the best of 3 sets (a player/team needs to win 2 sets to win the match) or to the best of 5 sets (a player/team needs to win 3 sets to win the match).

Scoring in a game

A standard game is scored as follows with the server’s score being called first:

No point - “Love”

First point - “15”

Second point - “30”

Third point - “40”

Fourth point - “Game”

If each player/team has won three points, the score is deuce. After deuce, the score is advantage for the player/team who wins the next point. If that same player/team also wins the next point, that player/team wins the game; if the opposing player/team wins the next point, the score is again deuce. A player/team needs to win two consecutive points immediately after deuce to win the game.

Tiebreaks

During a tie-break game, points are scored “zero”, “1”, “2”, “3”, etc. The first player/team to win seven points wins the game and set, provided there is a margin of two points over the opponent(s). If necessary, the tie-break game shall continue until this margin is achieved.